N.J. Panel to Weigh In on Constitutional Convention

Momentum is gathering in New Jersey to accomplish what many have tried without success to do: lower local property taxes, which rank among the nation’s highest. But leading education activists fear that the effort could backfire and lead to cuts in school spending.

By the end of this year, a task force assembled by state leaders is expected to recommend that citizen-delegates gather to rewrite the New Jersey Constitution and cut the taxes on which public education so heavily depends. What mix of revenue would be tapped to pay for schools, and at what level, are open questions.

Education leaders who support New Jersey’s high levels of per-pupil funding worry that a constitutional convention could rewrite the phrasing on which its finance system now rests: the guarantee of a...